Wednesday, May 13, 2009

New Toys!!!!!!

It's been years since I did real gold leafing (or I should say *metal* as I can't afford the real deal...) and as I recall, I ended up with more of it on me than the project I was working on. I also recall a lot---and I do mean A LOT---of vulgarities flying because I did not have much luck with it.
At any rate, the box canvas cries out for some of this, so armed with a 40% off coupon and with brushes advertised at 50% off, I headed to Hobby Lobby early in the morning and got my weapons of war! Four natural bristle brushes and a pack each of gold and silver colored metal leaf. I am guessing that with the assortment of glue-like products I own, something will work in place of the traditional sizing, which takes forever to come to tack and stays wet way beyond my patience. (you're right...the patience is at a minimum)
Today, before more health-related stuff, I am heading to the cellar to try my hand at this again.
Things I recall:

--make sure your hands are CLEAN and DRY
--don't exhale at the wrong time, and anytime you're working with the leaf is the wrong time
--use the natural oil from you skin to charge the brush to pick the leaf up
--don't drink copious quantities of caffeine before starting this project
--take your time and expect waste, or save the waste pieces and use them in collage
--pray you don't screw the whole thing up!!!!

If, perchance, anyone should notice a mushroom cloud going up in the vague direction of the northern third of Indiana, then you should guess, correctly, that things have not gone well and Anne is throwing a temper tantrum, and hopefully nothing else.
However, if there is a lovely photo here tomorrow, well, things might just have worked out!
It takes a certain amount of backbone to revisit areas of artistic endeavor that didn't work the first time. But I believe, at the end of the day, it is what is good for all of us and pushes our abilities to be more creative.
Or makes us look like the chick at the beginning of the Bond movie "Goldfinger".....

10 comments:

My Vagabond Heart said...

I'll be prepared to take cover! ~8-) I have confidence that you will pull it off.

I forgot about the 40% off coupon, thanks for mentioning it.

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

I'm telling you Vicki, working with this stuff probably should require an Rx of sedatives, or some sort of med....... ;)
I'm trying really hard to be POSITIVE!!!!!! Can't you tell????LOL!!!!

Linda and Michelle said...

I've never worked with the stuff, so I am really looking forward to seeing what you do (or don't do!) with the stuff. This is such an intriguing piece!

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

I'm telling you Linda, I don't know what your worst experience was with marbling, but take that X 100 and that was my last bout with it.
But it NEEDS it, and the work takes precedent over my hesitations. I think, if all goes even nominally well, that it will be wonderful.
Of course, a full frontal lobotomy might be in order too..... ;)

Tristan Robin said...

I'm very interested in what you use instead of size ... I don't like waiting that hour either LOL.

I always use the cheaper "flakes" of leaf, so I don't have to worry about it being smooth. The last time I tried to get a smooth even sheet of leaf on a piece, I thought I would tear my hair out.

Thanks for the tag - I'll blog about it later this week.

Can't wait to see what happens with the gold leaf on that gorgeous canvas!

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Right now I am using Collage Pauge, in matte, with some success. It starts to dry quick so you have to get an even coat on (and not too thick, not too thin) then slap the thing on there before too long. But you can get it all gooed too......mine is NOT perfect but I will have pics tomorrow!!! And will probably describe some of the process....without the *bad words*!!!! LOL!!!!

Leslie said...

Ducking for cover. Maybe I don't need to try this either. Good luck and I hope to see something tomorrow.

Funnily enough, the verification word for me on this comment is a variation on the word bollocks...

Might be hearing that later..

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

ROFLMAO!!!!! How utterly PUNK and appropriate!!!! What a hoot....some of those verification words are, well, WORDS.
I'll give a full report on this tomorrow.
Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Gold Leaf!!!
(okay, it's a bad Sex Pistols pun)

Jan said...

Sheesh, 8 comments already and I haven't even had coffee yet. Okay, half of them are your's, Anne. This is very intriguing, I look forward to seeing further advances on the gold leaf. I've only used the metallic foil stuff myself. I liked it a lot. I guess the leafing must be much richer looking, it sounds a lot harder to apply so must be worth the effort.

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

It's just different...can't describe it. The foil looks slicker; this looks more traditional, as in old picture frames. For people who know how to do it, it's really gorgeous.

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